These are all normal questions that every parent deals with when hearing the diagnosis of a deadly disease that
has the potential to take the life  of your child.  You resort to going on a fact finding mission to try to find as much
information about the disease as you can and try to understand the treatment protocols and the location of the
best medical facilities.  These were some of the initial steps and the many questions that we had when we first
heard the diagnosis,  Melanoma!  

After undergoing a couple of years of treatment at M. D. Anderson Cancer center we were told that Brad's
situation was very grim and he was not responding to the current treatment protocols.  The spread of his
disease was extensive and his cancer was determined to be very aggressive and the likelihood of a positive
outcome was dwindling.

 We were looking for answers and it seemed like there were no easy solutions or answers. As a parent the last words you want to hear are ... "we are out of options, and in all likelihood facing a case of terminal cancer".  Brad passed away six weeks later after what seemed like the blackest days of our lives.    No parent can ever understand the loss of a child especially in such an insidious manner. 

It was such a painful experience to watch your child suffer and yet feel so helpless and so overwhelmed all at the same time. It was during this time of great emotional upheaval that we decided that we wanted to help other families avoid facing this same tragedy.  If we chose to linger on the negative aspects of these very sad circumstances, then we would truly have done a disservice to the memory of a wonderful young man.   

Our family established the Bradley O'Martin Melanoma Foundation in December of 2005, after we experienced the loss of our son Brad (27) to Melanoma.  As painful as that situation was we decided that we needed to find a positive outcome for this tragedy.  We quickly realized that the public had very little understanding about Skin Cancer and little attention was focused on the harmful effects of sun tanning.    

The foundation is dedicated to the memory of our son Bradley, educating the public (especially young people), and funding research for an effective treatment, and hopefully one day a cure. 

Dr. Kevin Kim from M. D. Anderson Cancer Center is our Medical Director and a Board Member for our Foundation. Through our various visits to M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, http://www.mdanderson.org/diseases/melanoma/ we became closely involved with both Dr. Kim and Dr. Hwu and were very interested in the cutting edge research being undertaken for Melanoma.  Their research program on Immunology is new and innovative technology that may one day hold the key to providing a cure for cancer.   We are beginning to understand the connection between providing enhanced drug therapy to stimulate the immune system and the creation of super T-Cells to identify and destroy cancer cells. 

We believe that we would maximize the benefit to Cancer research if we target our donations to a particular facility with a dedicated program for Melanoma research.  Our choice obviously was M. D. Anderson Cancer Center for the wonderful and compassionate way they care for cancer patients.  Their health initiatives, their willingness to share their knowledge with other cancer centers, and their dedication to finding a cure for cancer were factors that cemented our decision. 

The Bradley O'Martin Melanoma Foundation is an active partner with the American Cancer Society and participates in their annual 'Relay for Life' fund-raising activities as well as being on their ACS Volunteer Speakers Bureau whereby we educate the public about Melanoma and the devastating effects of skin cancer.

Yvonne O'Martin, as Executive Director, was recently recognized as "Rookie of the Year" for outstanding achievement as volunteer promoter of activities for the American Cancer Society and is honored to be a part of their great work in order to educate and support their cancer initiatives.

Each year we participated in presentations with the Girl Scouts, Sports Teams, Local Schools, Corporations, and Community Health Fairs to help increase awareness about Skin Cancer.  

We understand that Skin Cancer is easily preventable if people follow the American Cancer Society's Sun-safety guidelines.  Our goal is to share that message with our community and provide literature on the risk factors and how to identify suspicious moles. We understand the significance of this quote:

                            "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure".